Queen Elia's Tales
by A Girl Heading Nowhere
Summary: A three-shot. Three talks Queen Elia has with her children. 1. Visenya learns of a new side of her father's Rebellion. 2. Aegon learn's of his mother's first love. 3. Rhaenys learns why she was given the name Rhaenys and not Visenya. Same Universe as VATM.
1. Chapter 1

**HOW IT CAME TO BE**

She isn't completely certain of how this came to be for one moment she was reading about the Targaryen reign over Westeros and the next moment her mother had entered her chambers to comb her hair the way she did every night.

They talk of beauty when Visenya tells of the knight who called her the most beautiful maiden in Westeros even if she has just seen her ninth name-day. Then her mother gives her a lesson on how her beauty isn't her greatest weapon, it is her mind. Before she knows it, the conversation goes here and there until it finally comes back to the question of what exactly happened to her grandsire and her mother asks her, "Can you keep a secret from your siblings?"

"For you, yes.", she answers her mother because it is rare for her mother to divulge in secrets with Visenya for she is a daddy's little princess still and her love is always more for her father.

"That is nothing more than a fabricated lie. A clever one but a lie still.", her mother tells her when Visenya says that her grandsire was killed by an unknown Lannister soldier who had never been found.

"Really?", she asks, surprised at those words for this is story every child in Westeros reads, a story the maesters tell again and again in their lessons.

"Well, I do suppose it would be more of a lie by omission to be honest.", her mother muses, the Queen's smooth fingers combing through her daughter's silver hair.

"What really happened then?" Her curiosity is something she doesn't often show but this is a special case.

Her mother takes a deep sigh before asking, "Do you know of a Tourney held at Harrenhal once? It is the only blemished in my marriage."

"The one where father crowned Lyanna Stark?" It is among the well-known stories is not the most popular ones for how often does a Crown Prince pass by his wife like that and give the wreath of Queen of Love and Beauty to another?

"Yes. That one. Do you know, your father had found a certain intrigue in the girl? She was still a child of course, on the cusp of maidenhood but I will admit she did have a wildness in her not often seen outside Dorne. I think that is what fascinated your father in the first place."

"What does this have to do with grandsire's death, mother?" Visenya is fully aware of her brother's anger against his father for the crowning incident and Rhaenys is also not too kind about it, even if she doesn't come out teeth fully bared.

"Well, this is right before the start of the war. Now will you listen?", her mother chastises for interrupting and Visenya simply nods in silence.

"Lady Lyanna's husband, well he was only her betrothed then, was undoubtedly furious at that and many would say this moment was important in lighting the first fire of the revolt."

"Ours is the fury.", Visenya can't help herself before those words - House Baratheon's words - come out of her mouth.

"Yes… Indeed. But when I finish you will realise that this moment wasn't important in starting the war but rather ending it. Anyway like I said, a new found and passing fancy from your father. I think it was because of her nature and nothing else. I saw no threat in her, young as she was. I knew it would pass with time. A month later and it didn't." A pause from her mother as the Queen continues brushing strands of her hair.

"What did you do then?", Visenya asks, her gaze focused on her mother through the looking glass.

"I distracted your father and quite successfully I assure you. Within a moon, I was with child - with you."

She wants to ask how her mother distracted her father for she is almost certain her mother is hinting at something her nine name-day old self can't catch.

"Anyway, when I discovered the news I was on Dragonstone and your father was somewhere off near Summerhall or Harrenhal, I can't quite recall. However, I knew he was trying to speak to Lady Lyanna for the girl was infatuated with your father. It would be hard not to really. It is not often in your life a Prince showers you with his attention. And wild and rough as she may be, she was still like any other girl her age, dreaming of escaping into the dreamlands with a Prince or a Knight."

Her mother interrupts the story to warn her, "Remember, you cannot tell Aegon or Rhaenys of this. I fear your brother will most certainly kill your father for his actions and Rhaenys, well, if nothing else she has the ability to do so."

Visenya vows to not speak of it to either of her siblings.

"Yes, now well when your grandsire found out that I was with child again, he had me brought to King's Landing. Didn't take me long to realise me and your siblings were hostages for there was unrest through the lands."

Yes, this part Visenya knows of. A mad King and his mistake, a mad King and his ability to see traitors everywhere, a mad King with a passion for fire - these are the stories she has heard enough.

"I do not how your father came to know of it but I remember well the day he came to claim me. I was only two moons pregnant and standing by the King with Ser Jaime shielding me behind him. Your father marched into the court, an audience available for him, and two Kingsguard behind him and said, _"My wife, Your Grace. I have come take her to Dragonstone."_

"Your grandsire, being who he was, laughed at your father's face and said, _"You can take her. Take your wife while your children remain here with me, their loving grandsire."_ His bitter, mocking tone was understood by one and all."

"But your father urged again, " _Your Grace, please. She is the Princess of Dragonstone. Both of our children were born on the island. Let me continue the tradition."_ Your grandsire again didn't agree with your father's reasoning. He served your father another ultimatum, your father could take the children and I was to remain behind. Do you understand why he did that Visenya?"

"You were what kept father's loyalty to the crown.", Visenya answers after a moment.

"Yes, an assurance that your father would never take arms against your grandsire for the old King feared your father."

"What did father do?", she asks for this is the part no book has ever mentioned. Also, they couldn't have gone to Dragonstone for Visenya knows she was born in the walls of the Red Keep.

"Nothing. Sword still tucked by his side, he asked for a word with me. Your grandsire granted him that as long as the conversation was held in front of the King and court. So… your father said nothing. He turned about and left the Red Keep. That was the last I would see of my husband for seven moons. The next time I would see Rhaegar, we would be the King and Queen awaiting their coronation."

"He walked away? Just like that? How could he?" Visenya is outraged at such a thing. Her father could show an interest in Lyanna Stark but not fight for her mother and his children?

"No… not just like that, I assure you. Rhaegar would tell me when we would meet later of where exactly he went and when. However, to sum it up it was like your father had vanished from Westeros. No one knew where he was or how he was or even if he was alive. Atleast, no such news would come to me or the King. The mad King would say that Rhaegar had finally gone into hiding, cowering at his failure. But the truth is that your father started the war for you and your siblings. He and two of the Kingsguard - Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell - took to the road, travelling through the Kingdoms to end your grandsire's rule, to get you and your siblings back."

"And you.", Visenya adds, finally satisfied with the fact that her father hadn't just walked away.

"Yes. And me.", Her mother nods and runs a comb through the same lock of hair for the umpteenth time. However, Visenya doesn't mind. Her attention is more upon the story than her hair. She doesn't think many people have the opportunity to hear the story, the true story, from somebody who witnessed it the way her mother did.

"Now see, this is where Lord Robert would come in. The Tyrells had been loyal to their King, your grandsire and the King demanded Dorne's spears in exchange for my safety. I wasn't just a safety against your father but against your Uncles Oberyn and Doran as well. That eliminates two Kingdoms and a Lord from the Stormlands who was still too angry at your father."

"But Lord Baratheon fought the war in father's name, I thought?" That is what the books had stated.

"Yes, he did. As I swelled with child, your father made peace with the Lord Baratheon. Your father was present for Lord Robert and Lady Lyanna's wedding, making sure it happened peacefully. Not only that, to heal the rift your father pledged Rhaenys to Robert's first born son, a boy who, as you will recall, was born just after the end of the war."

"I always wondered why you want to wed Rhaenys to a boy so young." Her eldest sister Rhaenys was always going to marry Jon and till this moment Visenya never understood that for Jon was her age, four name-days younger to Rhaenys.

"People pay great prices to win wars, my child. Your father insulted Lord Baratheon and so now he is to pay for it. Or Rhaenys is. Anyway, where were we?"

"Father had Lord Robert marry Lady Lyanna.", Visenya reminds her mother.

"Yes… Well Lady Lyanna was sister to Lord Brandon Stark and Lord Robert was like a brother to Eddard Stark. So the Stormlands and the North agreed to join your father. Lord Arryn of Vale had fostered Lord Robert and Lord Eddard hence when asked he raised his banners too. However, not every prominent Lord from Vale agreed and this led to a battle between the forces of Lord Arryn and the forces of North against those who were still loyal to the Crown. A battle which saw the death of Lord Brandon Stark, the heir to the Kingdom of North." Her mother finally sets down the comb and sits on Visenya's feather bed encouraging her to join the Queen.

"This is why Lord Eddard Stark wed Lady Catelyn Tully, who was Lord Brandon's betrothed, right?", Visenya asks her mother, eagerly remembering that part of the story.

"Yes he did. And Lady Lysa wed Lord Arryn. Your father thus got the Riverrun army too. Four kingdoms he finally had and by now the news had reached the King. Angry at the actions of your father, he locked me and your siblings in the Maidenvault and had Dorne send it's forces to fight against your father, a man who was wed to the Princess of Dorne. Did not sit well with my brothers, I assure you. And then came the Battle at the Trident, do you know of it?"

"Yes. They say it was the battle that decided the outcome of the war." So Visenya had read in the books. It was the last battle of the war before the armies reached King's Landing. It was also the battle where her mother had lost her uncle Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard.

"It was. Now, the thing is in that battle Dorne played a significant role. They formed the rear of the Royal army and hence entrapped the Royal army as the Rebel forces stood in front of it. Dornish men were never going to fight for a man who had threatened my life. Thus the Royal army was defeated."

"Now here is where the story gets truly interesting for this is the part where words are most twisted. Your father died on the Trident by a blow from Robert Baratheon, who hit him with his war hammer by mistake. The stories speculate that this was Lord Baratheon's way of avenging his lady wife's honour but I can tell you with complete surety that it is a lie none bothered to correct. It was a plan for everybody knew that the King would find out that Dorne had betrayed him and then my life and the life of your siblings would be in danger."

"Were you truly in danger, mother?", Visenya asks fearfully. Her mother sits before her alive and healthy and yet Visenya feels a fear for her mother's safety at the hands of the mad King.

"Well your grandsire was certainly not happy. He called for me and charged me with treason. Now understand that I knew not of this plan your father had hatched with his trusted generals and so I truly pleaded that Dorne would fight in my name. The King gave mercy because people believed your father was dead when he wasn't. Imagine me at seven and half moons pregnant and finding that my husband was dead. I wailed for him and prayed for his soul for naught. But with your father dead, your grandsire did not hesitate to send your uncle and grandmother, who would give birth to your aunt Dany during the course of this journey, to Dragonstone. But I remained with Rhaenys and Aegon. We remained for the King had no reason to ensure our safety."

"That was cruel of him. You were his good-daughter.", Visenya protests. She knows the King was not a kind man but every new story about him only highlights his vices.

"War is cruel. It makes monsters of men, my dear.", her mother says as she smiles wryly at Visenya.

"Why did father have to pretend to die, though? Wouldn't it be easier if grandsire saw that father had won against his forces and the next course of action would be to surrender?", Visenya enquires for that is what she would have done - surrendered to the victorious.

"Your father had to die so the King would see that me and your siblings were no threat. You see with your father dead, the King could easily pass over Aegon to name Viserys his heir. Also, it had to be Robert Baratheon who supposedly killed your father because that would mean that the battle was won by Robert, a man who held no special love for Rhaegar, me or your grandsire. Now I had the same worth to Lord Robert as King Aerys - which is none. So the King finally considered me useless. By now, he had even sent away my retinue in King's Landing."

"Even Lady Ashara?", Visenya asks. There were stories of lady Ashara, a woman with haunting beauty who died during the war.

"Yes even Ashara.", her mother replies softly. Visenya doesn't truly know anything Lady Ashara apart from the fact that she was Ser Arthur's sister and her mother's friend. However, Lady Ashara had died around the same time Visenya had been born - towards the end of the war.

"What happened then?", she asks eagerly.

"Well you certainly seemed adamant to not stay out of the scene after that. I took to the birthing bed half a moon before time, early in the afternoon and you would be born three hours before midnight. All red and squalling, you were my love." Her mother neatly tucks a strand of Visenya's hair behind her ear, smiling in nostalgia.

"The following day Lord Tywin's armies were outside the gates of the city, armed with swords and bows."

"How come Lord Tywin didn't join the war until this point?"

"His own reasons.", her mother answers, clearly avoiding the question.

"Anyway. Your grandsire demanded your presence in the Throne room in the morning, did you know that? You weren't presented to him yet. Ser Jaime, who was the only Kingsguard left behind, offered to present you to the King but I said no. Your father had presented Aegon and Rhaenys to the King and well, I knew something was wrong. We all did. So I took you myself. Mind you I could barely walk so Ser Jaime carried you and also bore half of my weight. Still, there we were in the Throne Room - the King, you, me, Ser Jaime and one of the King's pyromancer."

"What is a pyromancer, mother?"

"Just some men who played with fire. Not important to you, my dear. Now let me continue will you?"

Visenya muttered a quick apology for interrupting her mother before turning into nothing more than a rapt listener.

"The thing was your grandsire believed that Robert Baratheon was coming to take the Throne. So he felt that the best thing was to give him no Throne. _"Burn them. Burn them all."_ , he said. _"Let him be the King of charred bones and ashes."_

"He felt that he would be born as a dragon from the fire if he would sacrifice a pure life - a newborn life - you."

A gasp emits from her mouth before she can stop herself. "But…", she begins and stops again for what can she say right now.

"It was then that Ser Jaime unsheathed his sword and plunged it through the King's back.", her mother finishes dramatically.

"But he was Ser Jaime's King.", Visenya protests. Kingslaying was a curse.

"Visenya!", her mother exclaims, anger in her eyes. "What Ser Jaime did was the right thing. He was sworn to protect the King **and** the royal family. He chose to save you and I thank him everyday for that. So should you."

"He broke his oath.", Visenya weakly defends.

"Men swear oaths every day. Oath to a King, oath to the Gods. Defend and obey the King. Protect the innocent and the children. Ser Jaime answered to the Gods for that and that is the only way it should be. All I know is he saved my child. Tell me what would you have done? The King was going to burn you and King's Landing with him. We would all die for no reason if it weren't for Ser Jaime.", her mother explains and Visenya wonders what she would have done. Even she wouldn't let a babe die. But would she have killed the King?

"What did you do after that?"

"Me and Ser Jaime took you and went to the nursery to look for your siblings. It was sheer luck, the timing of our arrival, as not even moments later the Mountain barged into the nursery too. Have you heard of the Mountain?"

Visenya gives a nod after hearing her mother's word. The Mountain was a brute of a man, taller than any man who ever lived and just as dangerous. Visenya had never seen him but she had heard of him in passing and nothing else.

"Do you know his real name?", her mother asks again.

"No."

"Gregor of House Clegane. Bannerman to Lord Tywin.", her mother answers her own question.

"He was sent to protect you?"

Her mother laughs at that before speaking, "Quite the contrary, my dear. He was the harbinger of our death, the death of the Targaryen children. If it weren't for Jaime's presence, the Mountain would have us dead too for you and your siblings were all that stood between Lord Robert and the Throne."

"What did Ser Jaime do?"

"Play saviour again for White Cloak or not, for Lord Tywin Ser Jaime is his heir. You know why? I have told you this before."

"Because of Lord Tyrion's short stature.", Visenya recounts. It had been a year back when Aegon had called Lord Tyrion Imp while retelling one of the stories of some knights. Her mother had punished Aegon for that, telling her children that it was rude to ever call Lord Tyrion an Imp. Her mother had forbidden it.

"Yes. So the Mountain would never harm Jaime Lannister and hence we were saved. Then when Lord Tywin came our way, he was furious with his son. That anger would dissipate within hours certainly, for your father's armies would show up then and a few days later your father himself."

"But then aren't you furious at Lord Tywin?"

"I was. But then when news of your father being alive reached our ears I decided to take matters into my own hand. You understand with your grandsire and grandmother dead, I was acting Queen even before my coronation. I was the one who along with Lord Tywin ensured that when talked of, it would be a mysterious soldier who would be the Kingslayer."

"How could people still not know? It would be hard to hide the news, mother.", Visenya speculates.

"Wasn't too hard. There were exactly ten Targaryen soldiers in King's Landing along with one Kingsguard, a wet nurse, the royal family and Varys and Grand Maester Pycelle."

"Grand Maester who?", Visenya asks. She had only known of one Grand Maester and that was the one who had been in King's Landing since she was a babe.

"Pycelle. Old fool, I assure you. After Aegon's birth, he told your father it would be almost impossible for me to be with child again. I had him removed when I became Queen. Your father agreed and pulled some strings to have the man sent back to the Citadel."

"Now see, ten soldiers of whom barely two or three were in the Red Keep while the rest were at the City gates. Yet all those men died. The wet nurse was with your brother and sister at the time so she did not know what happened in the Throne Room. Lord Varys may have the knowledge and by the time the Lannisters had come in, the King was already dead. No Lannister soldier would speak of the matter of course when we had blamed a man among them of the murder while at the same time blaming none."

"That was quite clever of you, mother.", Visenya compliments. She doesn't think she would have been able to come up with such a plan.

"Thank you, my child. This is also why you do not see Lord Tywin in court anymore, did you know that? We made promises and I assured him no harm would come to his family if he gave me peace and his sworn fealty to your father and Aegon. He agreed and we left it at that, preparing for your father's return."

"So father knows, right? Of Lord Tywin and the Mountain I mean."

"He does, my child. But like I said war is cruel. Things happen during war that are hard to forgive and forget but let it be in the past now. All of it and I mean that Visenya."

Obediently, Visenya nods. "Yes mother."

"Now get some sleep, my child. And remember, Ser Jaime was nothing less than a saviour on that day. Not a sinner, not an oathbreaker or a Kingslayer. He was a true Knight who saved a little princess.", her mother finishes before standing to leave Visenya alone for the night.

"Mother?", she calls out, "Why tell me of it at all?"

"Well, babe or not, you were there my child. In some way, I believe you deserve to know what Ser Jaime did for you that day. As you grow up, you will hear people say your father was an Usurper but that is a complete and utter lie. Your father did not fight for an Iron Throne and a golden crown, my dear, he fought for his children. I fear Rhaenys and Aegon will never understand this so I need you to."

 _Years later when her father would lie on his death-bed, her anger at his decision to wed his children dissipated, she will utter the last words he hears from any of his children ever, "You fought for us. For mother and Rhaenys, for Aegon and me. I understand." She gives her father a parting gift, his peace._


	2. Chapter 2

**HER FIRST LOVE**

It is a horror he will remember for years to come - the sight of Ser Jaime buried deep into Lady Cersei Tully, who was visiting King's Landing with her husband Lord Edmure. At ten, he is not completely unaware of what they were doing. He has a rough idea - ideas formed from the talks of men and young boys in the tiltyard. He understand their actions but he doesn't understand a reason.

So naturally, it is his mother he seeks to ask about it, to understand it for his curiosity is something he inherits from his father.

He finds her in the King's chambers alone, his father having just left.

"Mother?"

"Oh Aegon, my dear. What is it?", his mother, Queen Elia, asks gently. Despite Rhaenys and Visenya's claims stating otherwise, he is almost certain he is his mother's favourite child.

"I was wondering… Is it wrong to love somebody you shouldn't?" From what he knows, people do what Ser Jaime and his sister were doing, only if they love each other. (The stable boy had said so to Aegon, all the while laughing to his heart's content.)

His mother's attention is fully on him now and that makes him slightly nervous. He scratches behind his left ear, a sure sign of his nervousness, his mother had called it.

"Come here!", she beckons and Aegon moves to join his mother on the King's feather bed.

"Tell me honestly, my boy, do you love somebody?" His mother's question is asked in a soft voice, her eyes curious but not furious.

So he tells her honestly, "No."

"Then?"

"Just… Have you ever loved someone you shouldn't?" Despite being close to his mother, he has no desire to share this piece of information about Ser Jaime with her. It was too dirty a secret.

His mother doesn't answer immediately, taking her time to run her hands through his shoulder length hair. Finally, she answers. "Yes."

A lack of elaboration makes him only more inquisitive, "Who was he?"

"I cannot tell you the name, my dear." Even though his mother is physically present, he is certain he doesn't hold her full attention. Her eyes are glazed with a haunting look which Aegon has learnt to recognise simply because of how often his mother is like this.

"Was he handsome?" He can guess the person if he knows enough, he assumes.

"Beautiful not handsome.", his mother corrects immediately. "Tall and gracious with long dark hair and laughing purple eyes." Purple eyes makes him instantly think of his sister Visenya for while Rhaenys and Aegon have inherited their father's indigo eyes, Visenya's are more darker - purple and a shade similar to uncle Viserys's eyes.

"Where is he now? Is he a knight? Or a Lord?" His excitement is not easily controlled and the questions are spilling out of his mouth before he can stop himself.

"Dead." His mother's answer silences him instantly. Dead, his mother's love was dead.

His mother's haunting sadness at those words makes him ask, "You love father more though, right?" He shouldn't be worried of a dead man stealing his mother but he is.

"I love your father dearly", his mother answers vaguely before giving him a sad smile. "First love is not too easily forgotten, my child."

"Story?", he asks simply for his mother understands him better than most and so his mother makes herself comfortable on the bed, lying leisurely, encouraging him to join her. He does it hesitantly, for it is the King's bed even if his father isn't often found in his chambers at night. The entire castle knows that there only two places where the King can be found in the night, either his solar or his Queen's chambers. It is rare for the King to come to his bed at night.

Once they are both settled his mother begins, "I met them when I was a little girl, just like you are now. There were two travellers to Old Palace - them and their elder brother. You remember the Water Gardens?"

Aegon nods to that. The Water Gardens are one of the most loveliest places in Dorne.

"I met them there - as we all played in the waters - low born and high borns alike, bastards and true-borns."

"Was he a bastard?", Aegon enquires. It is just a question that comes to his mind. A bastard would be hard to find - and a dead one impossible.

"A Lord's child. We grew up together and I formed a close bond with their brother too. The brother grew up to be a Knight."

"Was he a Knight too?" A knight would be slightly easier to find. He just wants to know who was his mother's first love.

"My first love was no Knight, my dear. But they did use a dagger well." His mother's lips curl into a sly smirk at that but Aegon almost loses interest. The man was a Lord's son who wasn't a knight. What use was he then?

"Better than Uncle Oberyn?", he asks. For Aegon, no one handles a sword better than Ser Arthur and a spear and dagger better than Uncle Oberyn.

"Oberyn would say no. But that would be a lie.", his mother answers. So his uncle knew of this lord. Hmmm… he would have to write to Dorne it seemed.

"What happened?", he asks. If he wasn't a Knight or a Prince then Aegon has little interest in this man but then again, he had to have something which would capture his mother's love like that.

"I broke it off for it was not going to be allowed. You see I was a Princess of Dorne and my first love was… they were… just… that." His mother smiles at that and turns to him in a way which suggests there is no more to say about it.

"Uncle Oberyn though…", he begins stuttering, his cheeks heating up at the coming words, "he has a paramour and he often takes an…" His uncle's adventures are something he has almost full account to. Every tale is imprinted in his mind.

"I will make it clear Aegon that you will not repeat your uncle's actions. And honestly, his stories are exaggerated.", his mother chastises, muttering about murdering his uncle for rotting her innocent son.

He elaborates on his earlier statement, not bothering to talk of his own actions with women (which is nothing really, for he interacts with the women who are family and the passing servants). "I mean… so you didn't take him with you as your…", the words make him ashamed almost. He cannot imagine his mother with another man and a picture of purple eyes and dark hair is a blur.

His mother laughs loudly at that. "Oh my sweet boy. You understand your uncle is one of a kind. As it is, I wed your father soon after that."

"Was he present for the wedding?" He wonders if the man saw his mother wed and felt truly heartbroken in that moment.

"Yes… The person actually came with me… As part of my Dornish retinue… One of my close friends because we were friends before we loved one another.", his mother explains.

"Did he not ask for your hand? Challenge father?" Aegon thinks that is what he would have done if his mother talks of this love with such sweetness. Also, it would make for an interesting tale, his father's duel with his mother's first love - the stuff of songs and legends.

"No… I do not believe our customs would allow such a thing. My mother was dead-set on the marriage and your father… well… he was Crown Prince then. It would be impossible to do that."

"So this person came with you. Then how did he die?"

"An age old tale of a Tourney and a war." His mother gives no other explanation but Aegon understands that by war his mother meant his father's Rebellion.

"So this man - we should name him something by now - but he died in war?" An honourable death was a death in war, so he had learnt.

"Not the war. And what would you name him?"

"A fool.", he answers in slight anger. Only a fool would think that his mother loved him and not the King.

"I do not believe they would like the name.", his mother speaks in a voice suggesting discontent. His mother had this ability to show that she was not taking kindly to you in the moment without raising her voice.

"Purple then. For his eyes." He cannot think of a better name simply because he isn't putting much thought into this man. And truly, if he didn't die in war then did they even have a right to be given a proper name?

"Well then, Purple was in Dorne when the war continued. Your grandsire had my retinue sent away as the war raged."

"So he couldn't even fight for you? A fool, like I said." Aegon could hit him over his head repeatedly, this fool.

"Aegon!", his mother warns, eyes stern, before continuing, "Purple's hands were tied my child. Not all can start a war."

"Well father fought for his crown.", Aegon remarks before asking again, "So how did this man die?"

His mother draws a heavy sigh at that and closes her eyes for a moment before speaking. "Purple died and died alone." His mother's left hand constantly fiddles with a jewellery on her wrist - a bracelet with a sun and a star dangling from it. "Jumped off a tower. People would say many things about it. Of why Purple did it. A child born dead, a broken heart, a family lost."

Even though his mother's tiredness is visible to him, he presses on, "What was the real reason?" His mother always said to die alone was the cruelest way to meet the Gods.

"I do not know. And I shall never know. You must understand, I loved her as truly as I could. Even after I wed your father, Purple was my friend, my confidant. We shared everything and I was so heartbroken to know that it had happened. I cried and cried and cried when I found out. Then I tried to search for answers but I didn't know where to look. It was the end and I would never see those purple eyes again, never hear that twinkling laugh. And I just didn't know why. I will never know why."

His mother's eyes are watery but no tears fall from them and Aegon grips his mother's hand, his small hand enclosing her slightly bigger one. He is almost certain his mother said she but then he could be mistaken or it was a slip of tongue. Either way, he doesn't focus much on it and his mind creates the image of a scrawny boy with no muscles, raven black hair and purple eyes - a boy or man unworthy of the Queen, a man who was nothing compared to the King. However, the only purple eyes he can give the stranger is Visenya's and so he imagines the boy with his eyes closed. Visenya's eyes weren't meant for a fool like this one.

"I hope someday, you find your first love. Who knows, it might even be your Queen.", his mother comments after a long time, her eyes no longer watery and her smile as sweet as honey.

"I want a Queen like you. Can you be my Queen too?" It is a foolish thought, Aegon knows but then he truly wants a Queen as kind and gentle as his mother. A woman who rules beside him like mother ruled with father.

His mother's laugh rings in the chambers at the comment. "Oh sweet boy. You have so much to learn."

It is a mystic sentence his mother doesn't comment further upon for his father is back from wherever he went.

It was a conversation never repeated or talked of. And Aegon thinks of him an idiot for it had taken him a year and two moons, having just seen his twelfth name-day, to know that the fool was a Lady Ashara of House Dayne. At eleven, he had figured that his mother had hidden much and there was a possibility that this love was a woman. However, Aegon could never digest that truth. But then, he was twelve and the Maester was talking of great Houses and the Martells were brought up, thereby bringing up their sworn bannerman. That was when it had struck him. A Lord's child brought up in Dorne. A Dornish House and there was only one maiden who had died the way his mother's love did. Anyway, it didn't matter then for his mother had passed away a moon back and so would never know that Aegon had finally solved it - that atleast one of her children knew of her first love.

 _It was perhaps his mother's good wishes that years later, Aegon first and last love does turn out to be his wife, his Queen, his Visenya. And true to the wishes, his Queen was just like his mother for Visenya's likeness to their mother was hard to be ignored. Visenya's kisses were fire and her love consuming and when Visenya dies before Aegon, he truly understands his mother's pain for losing one's first love is hard, extremely so._


	3. Chapter 3

**THEY NAMED HER RHAENYS**

So yes, when she is a little baby her name doesn't bother her at all. Why would it? She is two and she barely understands the concept of names. Then her mother has Aegon and it isn't that big a thing for her. She barely knows her history yet. She only knows of three Targaryens - the three conquerors - whose life is nothing more than a bedtime story for her to listen to.

As quick as lightning, everything changes. Her mother is with child again. She is being taken to King's Landing with her mother and brother. Her father fights a war and no, she doesn't understand anything about war because she is barely four.

When her father returns, now a King, she has a younger sister called Visenya and that is when the fact comes to her attention - Visenya was the eldest and Rhaenys the youngest. Still she doesn't pay heed to it. It all holds no meaning to her.

But there are talks as there always have been. People laugh at their King and Queen for they have forgotten their history. Their firstborn daughter should have been named Visenya, not Rhaenys.

Soon, she is growing up and finally taking lessons from the Maester, which means she learns about the Targaryen rule. She learns of Rhaenys the first, a conqueror like her brother, a woman of striking beauty who died in Dorne. She learns of the second Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen who never was, a daughter passed over to let an uncle steal her crown. Still, it means nothing to her because other Targaryens had met with ugly fates too, it wasn't just the name that caused misery.

Then one fine day she is finally a girl blossoming at thirteen, with her mother's dark hair and her father's indigo eyes. She is a beauty, even if she is nowhere close to her little sister's beauty, who at nine-almost-ten, is the upcoming maiden. Then her uncle Viserys comes back from his travels across the Narrow Sea and regales the tales of his adventures. He talks of this community of people who think black is the devil's colour and who feel names have consequences. That is when it strikes real fear in her.

"Why Rhaenys?", she asks her mother as she takes a stroll through the gardens.

"What?", her mother asks, clearly not understanding.

"Why name me Rhaenys? Some believe names have power, did you know that?", she questions again, only pretending to admire the flowers on the bush. She is more concerned with her name, with understanding why she wasn't called Visenya as she should have been.

Her mother bursts out laughing at her questions. She hadn't expected that from the Queen.

"Do you know I said the same thing to your father when he first named you? I told him some believed that names could be a blessing or a curse and Rhaenys Targaryen, both of them, weren't the most fortunate women.", her mother tell her. "And of course, then I told your father, the eldest of the conquerors was Visenya."

"So why did father name me Rhaenys?", she prods again. If names had weightage of any kind, then Visenya was a comparatively fortunate name - a warrior queen, who was as comfortable in armour as in silks. A woman who greeted death like a friend, instead of perishing under the enemies, even if her son was Maegor the Cruel.

"Why not Rhaenys?", her mother retorts.

"Because the first Rhaenys died, in Dorne, mother. Your home Dorne. Killed by Dornishmen. And the second Rhaenys died before she could be Queen. Both fell to their death, their dragons dying with them. If names are cursed then my name is cursed.", she explains, as if her mother were a little child.

"Why not Rhaenys was what your father asked me, my child. And I told him of the first Rhaenys like you. I told of her curse, of how she fell in Dorne. No Dornish women will ever be named Rhaenys, I told your father clearly. That woman met an ill-fated death, trying to take Dorne from its people. My daughter shall not be her."

"But your father, being who he is turned it all on my head. Do you know what he told me?", her mother asks, moving to sit on a bench nearby. Her mother tired so easily now-a-days. Something must have been wrong with her.

"No. What did he said?"

"He said I was all wrong.", her mother replied. "You can understand my horror at your father's claim. I knew my Dornish history well, still do. I know of every ruler of Dorne, every enemy and so your father's words made me angry."

Rhaenys smiled at that. She doesn't think there could be a more prouder Dornish woman than her mother. Her mother was proud of her Dornish heritage, bore it like a shield and would have punished her children had any of them not shared her feelings on Dorne. Which is why all three siblings were well-versed in Targaryen and Martell history, whether they like it or not.

"Anyway, your father claimed I was remembering them wrong. That I should not look at her death as a curse but her life as a blessing. She was a Queen, a dragon-rider, a conqueror. She was brave and strong yet graceful."

 _"She is the one we descend from, not Visenya."_ , your father stated but that was still not enough to convince me. I was not going to budge so easily.", her mother explained.

"Then what changed your mind?", Rhaenys asks because her mother may always be kind and gentle, but she was a strongly opinionated woman. Rhaenys thinks Dorne can do that to children.

"Your father's words. He believed that the other Rhaenys Targaryen was not of much consequence. The Queen who never was may have died in fire and blood, just as her namesake but you would be different. He told me that you would rise from the Dornish blood that defeated the first Rhaenys, you would be forged of the same steel as the conqueror. Born from the ashes and other such claims your father made."

 _"One Rhaenys died in Dorne then let another be born of it. She will live the life of her namesake. A ruler, a dragon, a girl who would be as fierce as Aegon's sister and as graceful as her."_ , your father told me, urging me to think of the good life Rhaenys had lived before her untimely death."

"That was all it took?", Rhaenys asks in confirmation. It doesn't sound too bad, her father wanting Rhaenys Targaryen's life and not her death for his daughter. Yet it seemed a little unsatisfactory.

"Well that and the fact that rumour claimed Visenya had a bad reputation. When your father named you Rhaenys, I never expected to have another daughter too thereby allowing your father to have his three little conquerors. And I truly didn't think your father would name his children after the conquerors. Do you realise how unlikely it was that after you, I would birth a son and then a daughter hence having three children in the same order as the conquerors - two daughters and a middle son?"

"Not very likely.", she answers, shrugging her shoulder in reply. It was truly rare. From her own knowledge, Rhaenys cannot recall a Targaryen who sired three children - two daughters and a son - in the correct order.

"Exactly.", her mother nods. "Then of course, there was you. You my dear were so small and fragile. A beautiful little babe. I could never imagine you as the harsh and unforgiving Visenya Targaryen. I had known you would be more kinder and gentler. " As her mother's hands settle on her dark hair, she understands her mother is nostalgically remembering the past. Yet, she cannot help but interrupt.

"Visenya isn't harsh either.", she states, referring to her younger sister. Honestly, if the two sisters competed, Rhaenys would turn out to be more harsh because she had been the eldest and that title came with its own growing up.

"Yes, well like I said, how was I to know for certain that I would have another daughter. Your father though had seemed extremely certain after Aegon's birth that his next child would be a daughter called Visenya.", her mother tells her and Rhaenys is still too confused about her father. He often seemed a prophetic man.

"That sounds like father.", she remarks remembering her younger days when she would pour over scrolls with her father even if she understood nothing.

"So are you satisfied with the answer, my dear?", her mother asks, drawing Rhaenys out of her musings.

Truthfully, Rhaenys is a little disappointed. For one, she is nothing like Rhaenys Targaryen especially when compared to her sister. It was easily Visenya who had taken most of the features of Aegon's younger sister including her famed beauty while Rhaenys was more like the first Visenya Targaryen. Secondly, she had expected a better explanation. It couldn't have been so easy. Her father couldn't have truly swayed her mother just with few words about her being forged of the same steel as Aegon's sister-wife. Which makes her wonder if her mother truly had a say in her name because Rhaenys is well-aware that those times were different because her father wasn't King yet. Still she doesn't ask this from her mother. Thirdly, she still fears her name to be a curse. Though she also remembers Visenya Targaryen, the second of her name, a still born, deformed daughter of Princess Rhaenyra, who had called her own daughter a monster. So if Rhaenys was a curse, perhaps so was Visenya. However, there is this uncertainty in her heart that like her namesake, she too would die in fire and blood.

But to please her mother, she simply nods and suggests they head inside. According to her mother, this conversation had ended and Rhaenys's curiosity satisfied.

 _Turns out that Rhaenys's name is not a curse. She doesn't die in fire and blood. She dies in a storm as she and her husband return to Storm's End to return to her grandchildren. However, she hadn't been completely wrong. Names had powers. Her name did too in a way. The only difference was that it wasn't Rhaenys but her husband's Baratheon name which was the curse she had took as she married Jon. Like Jon's grandparents, Jon and Rhaenys died in a storm, not far from Storm's End. But Rhaenys doesn't hesitate to meet her death for she had already outlived both her siblings, just like her Uncle Doran had outlived both of his. She had also outlived both her namesakes, who had died young and without ever seeing their grandchildren._


End file.
